The forty days between the time God our Heavenly Father raised His Only Begotten Son Jesus from the dead and the moment He called Jesus to depart the earth by ascending up to heaven were an amazing forty days. John 20:1-17 tells much of the story.

That short period of time begins when Mary Magdalene, at sunrise, was the first person to go to the tomb and find it empty. Upon approach, she noticed the stone enclosing the tomb where Jesus had been laid had been rolled away.

Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white sitting where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put Him.”

One of the angels informed her and the other Mary who also had arrived at the tomb that Jesus had risen from the dead.

Imagine the shock but also the thrill Mary must have felt upon hearing such news about Jesus rising from the dead. Her precious Lord and Savior, whom she loved so dearly.

Mary’s heart must have been bursting with hope and excitement, and her mind certainly must have been racing as she thought to tell the other followers of Jesus all about the things she had just seen and heard.

On her way back to the others, she ran into a man on the trail whom she at first mistook for the gardener. He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking He was the gardener, she said “Sir, if you have carried Him away, tell me where you have put Him, and I will get Him.” Then the man spoke her name.

“Mary,” he said, in what to her would have been a very familiar voice.

When she realized it was Jesus, we can only imagine what went through her heart and her mind and her soul.

Mary’s entire being must have leapt with truly unimaginable joy. She turned toward Him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” which means teacher.

Jesus said to Mary, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father.”

“Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.'”

Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news; “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them about the things He had said to her (John 20).

Up to this time, none of the disciples or other followers of Jesus fully understood what it meant that in three days, Jesus would rise from the dead. The news of Jesus’ rising must at first have sounded too good to be true, mixed with excitement and hope and anticipation of seeing Him again.

The disciples and the women followers of Jesus were all gathered in a large room behind locked doors. The doors were locked due to the concern about what the Sanhedrin-led Jews who crucified Jesus might do to them. It was in this locked room where the risen Jesus first appeared to them all together. Only Thomas was missing.

Because the doors were locked, and yet there in their midst appeared Jesus, they at first thought he must have been a ghost and were frightened. Although Jesus, before the crucifixion, as written in Luke 9:22, had said to them, “The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised on the third day,” the disciples still were finding it hard to believe what was actually happening in that locked room.

He showed them the nail marks on His hands and feet and the spear mark on His side, and had them touch Him to show them that it was He and that He still had flesh and bones and was not a spirit or a ghost. When He saw that they were still in doubt and acting terrified, He said this: “Have you any food here?” So, they gave Him a piece of broiled fish and some honeycomb. And He took and ate it in their presence.

Then, the disciples realized that it really was Jesus, and they were overjoyed.

I am thinking that overjoyed is an understatement.

It is the best description we have, perhaps, but think about the actual reality of what was happening there in that place.

In all fairness to the disciples, no one had ever seen anything like this. Though they had walked with Him and seen Him do many miracles along the way, His appearing to them, after witnessing what had been done to Him at Calvary, was miraculous and supernatural on a level that, for lack of a better term, blew their minds.

The followers of Jesus thought that they had lost Him after witnessing the brutality and seeming finality of the crucifixion. When they, the disciples and all of the women followers of Jesus, came to grips with the reality that He had indeed risen just as He told them He would do, they really began to understand who He was and who He still is, on a whole other level. They really began to fully comprehend what Jesus meant when He had said, “I and my Father are One” (John 10:30).

Then Jesus said to them, “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms.”

Then Jesus opened their minds so they could understand the scriptures. He told them this is what is written: “The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with the power from on high” (Luke 44:44-49).

They realized that Jesus was not just the Son of Man and the Son of God but that Jesus was God, the second part of the Holy Trinity. All creation was spoken into existence through Him who appeared risen from the dead and standing in their very midst.

Jesus appeared to them again one week later when Thomas had returned. The story of Thomas is a familiar one. Jesus dispelled the doubts of Thomas by having Thomas touch the wounds, and Thomas fell on his knees and proclaimed, “My Lord and my God” (John 20:28).

Jesus again appeared a third time to some of His disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, where Simon Peter, Thomas, Nathanael, and the sons of Zebedee (James and John) had been fishing during the night but had caught nothing. Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore and told them to cast their net on the right side of the boat (John 21:6).

The net filled to the brim with 153 fish. Then John said to Peter, “It is the Lord.” Jesus had some bread and a fire with burning coals and fish cooking on it there on the shore. He called to them, “Come and have breakfast” (John 21:7-12).

After breakfast was when Jesus asked Peter three times, “Do you love me? Then feed my sheep” (John 21:1-17).

On day forty after the Resurrection, when He had led His disciples out to the vicinity of Bethany, He lifted up His hands and blessed them. While He was blessing them, He left them and was taken up into Heaven. Then, they worshiped Him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple praising God (Luke 24:50-53).

The last paragraph in the gospel book of John says that Jesus did many other things as well. “If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written” (John21:25).

In summing up this article called “Between the Resurrection and the Ascension,” I cannot help but wonder if meeting the Lord Jesus and seeing Him face to face for the first time will fill our hearts with a similar kind of joy and amazement and wonder as Mary Magdalene felt when she met Jesus on the trail right after He had risen. I anticipate that it will be the most wonderful thing that has ever happened to each of us who is blessed with the gift of Eternal Salvation.

Whoever may read this, I pray that you will be part of God’s Forever Family. If you have not given your life to the one who gave you your life, today would be a perfect day to do that. Romans 10:9-10 is a beautiful way to begin.

“If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart man believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made to salvation.”

Jesus, I stand in complete awe of you…

Your friend, Rick Segoine

Psalm 23; Matthew 9:35-36; Acts 20:28-31; 1 Timothy 3:1-7; Titus 1:8-9

Summary: The events described in Revelation Chapter 6 describe the terrors that will come upon the earth. The lost are like sheep without a shepherd about to face this horrid time. We must bring them to Jesus before it is too late.

Bible prophecy is not preached in a majority of churches today. The sad fact is that a lot of “churches” don’t bother to preach from the Bible but are more than happy to cater to the unholy trinity of “me, myself, and I.” They are in the business of people pleasing and “ear tickling” (1 Timothy 4:1-4). In turn, they lead multitudes astray from the green fields and still waters provided by the grace, mercy, and love from the Good Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ (John 10).

By not teaching and preaching the whole counsel of God found in the Holy Scriptures (John 17:17; Act 17:11; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:19-21), the church of the last days leads their flocks to the blighted field of compromise and apostasy. These deceived souls will be “left behind” to endure what the book of Revelation so vividly describes.

The rise of false teachers and compromised “shepherds” were prophesied by the Lord Jesus and the apostles (Matthew 24:4-5; Mark 13:1-2; Luke 21:5-6; Acts 20:28-32; 2 Peter 2:12-17; Jude 1). What we have is a lack of authentic pastoral care and instruction in the modern church and a lack of concern by professing followers of Jesus Christ for sound teaching and the necessity of sharing the Gospel in order to guide lost lambs to the safety of the fold and protect them from the ravenous wolves ready to devour them. The bottom line is that there are too few men willing to take up the call and work of a shepherd, which is representative of the role of a pastor.

This message came about by sitting in on an adult Bible class in a local church. I heard nothing more than a variety of opinions and a conglomeration of voices without unity of thought and focus. This particular church had been without a pastor for almost two years after their previous pastor of fifty years passed away. I had intended to present a message on 1 John 1:5-10, but another message came to my mind from the classroom to the pulpit that would be based upon the compassion of Jesus for those numerous weary and lost souls to Whom He was ministering. The Bible records this work of compassion in Matthew 9:35-36):

“Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the Gospel of the Kingdom, and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. But when He saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered, like sheep having no shepherd.”

In the past, God had sent them leaders such as Moses, Joshua, King David, King Josiah, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and others to teach the people of Israel to follow and worship the LORD. They also warned the Israelites to repent of sin and return to God. We read in the Bible that Israel, God’s chosen people, did not always heed what God’s spokesmen told them. As a result of their disobedience over the years, they were forced into exile, subjected to the rule of empires such as Babylon, Persia, Greece, and the iron boot of Rome.

When the Jews were allowed to return by the decree of Cyrus, emperor of Persia, spiritual leaders such as Ezra and Nehemiah returned to the land to teach the settlers the Scriptures, to live holy lives, and rid their homes of idols, including casting out wives and husbands who continued to worship pagan deities. Ezra and Nehemiah stated that it was incidents such as these that led Israel to sin and, in turn, led them into exile by the hand of God.

It was during this time that certain men took upon themselves a sacred oath to live pious lives before God and devote themselves to the reading, study, and teaching of Scripture. They became known as the Pharisees, or “separated ones.”

These men became types of “shepherds” to the people of Israel, and like any movement, started out well but over time grew to become an organization of tyrannical legalists who were meticulous about following “traditions of men,” moving away from the Word of God, adhering instead to the numerous commentaries on Scripture and rituals written and taught by generations of rabbis.

These shepherds ended up as ravenous wolves who took the joy of worshipping God and the study of Scripture away from the people of Israel, and instead replaced it with emotionless religious ritual, oppression, and fear of angering God for a violation of laws and traditions not found in Scripture. Any violation of these traditions, rituals, and rules brought condemnation from the Pharisees.

The people had become weary of this rote religious tyranny. Jesus saw this and rightfully condemned the Pharisees for their neglect of the Word of God, disqualifying them from being shepherds of Israel. They had become nothing more than “whitewashed tombs who were full of dead men’s bones” and “broods of vipers” who would not escape the damnation of hell (Matthew 23).

Jesus opened the eyes of many to the joy of knowing God as a “Father” who loved them, freeing them from their penalty of sin and restoring the broken relationship between Himself and fallen humanity. This was accomplished by the finished work of Christ upon the cross (John 14:6,19:30, Romans 5:6-11, 10:9-10) and His resurrection from the dead, along with the promise of His glorious return (Acts 1:8-11).

The Lord Jesus fulfilled the role of the Good Shepherd. He and His apostles show us in the Scriptures what the man of God is to be and do in regard to the care and protection of the flock. Pastors and teachers of the Word are to be held to a higher standard (James 3:1). Traditions, trends, and opinions of the world have no place in the pulpit. Pastors, elders, and every single one of us will stand before the Lord Jesus to give an account of our lives and service to Him (2 Corinthians 5:10). I say all of this to remind not only pastors but every Christian to stand firm in the faith and tell others about the truth of the Gospel.

The coming events written of in the book of Revelation can be avoided by a lot of people if we get out and present the promise of salvation through Jesus Christ to a weary world. There are lambs waiting to be rescued, and the wolves are getting closer.

donaldwhitchard@outlook.com

www.realitycityreverend.com